


Rush

by victoriandancer



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 17:10:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7853809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriandancer/pseuds/victoriandancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Surgeon Dr. Roy Mustang and Operating Room Nurse Riza Hawkeye would like to keep their routine of saving lives in the Amestris City hospital Emergency Room.  It’s difficult to keep that routine when Homunculus Inc. invades and threatens to turn the hospital into an exclusive rehabilitation facility.  In order to keep their livelihoods, and perhaps their lives, Roy and Riza need to find the cure to a deadly disease targeting their staff and stop the corruption invading their hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OMG this is my first large fanfiction ever! I am so excited to post this and I hope you all love it! Thank you to my college roommate Christine and to Vicky for reading it over for me and helping me craft the final draft! Thank you to the two AMAZING artists minmeiz and atriem who wanted to pair their work with my story! Their work will be posted on their own blogs and to my master post on tumblr (victoriandancer). I'll post the link at the end once it's up! Finally, thank you to the wonderful moderators of FMA Big Bang 2016! It was a joy working with you and you all were awesome! I sincerely hope there is a 2017 event!

“Headed home for the night?”

Riza closed her locker, not even glancing at the dark-haired surgeon leaning on the lockers next to her. “Yes, Dr. Mustang,” she answered, “As you should be too. Isn’t your shift over?”

“It is, but I have some paperwork to finish,” Dr. Roy Mustang said, shrugging one shoulder. “Want to grab a coffee before you head out? I want to talk about tomorrow’s cholecystectomy tomorrow.”

Riza nodded and shouldered her bag of spare clothes. “It’s on my way out anyway. Is this a normal gallbladder removal?”

Roy shook his head. “I wanted to get her in today but the higher ups pushed it back to tomorrow.” He led her to the elevators and pushed for floor 1. “As soon as they heard ‘She’ll live,’ they didn’t want to hear anything about her intense pain. Seriously we’re paying more for the morphine and keeping her overnight,” he muttered at the end, stepping off the elevator and leading his head nurse to the coffee shop.

Coffees in hand, they make their way to a bench outside to enjoy the crisp autumn air. Roy leaned back and rested his head on the smooth face of the building behind him. “Her surgery begins at 8 tomorrow. Think you can be here at 7?”

“Of course,” Riza stared out at the front lawn and took a sip of her coffee. “I’ll be here whenever you ask me.”

Roy smiled at the assurance, then leaned forward and scratched the back of his head. “Nurses need down time, even if you end up on call 24/7,” he chuckled. “But I have been meaning to ask, what does Black Hayate do all day?”

Riza shook her head. “My friend, Rebecca, lets him out on her lunch break.”

“Ah.” Roy nodded and sighed, finishing his coffee. “Well, I won’t keep you. See you bright and early tomorrow.” He stood and headed back inside.

Riza nodded and made her way to the parking garage attached to the hospital. Her practical silver SUV was parked in her designated spot as Head Operating Room Nurse. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes for her to drive home and have her black Shiba Inu, Black Hayate, on a leash for a walk.

“Come on, boy,” she said and smiled kindly to her dog as he sniffed around a tree. “Let’s stop by the convenience store for some milk.” Being the only fully trained OR nurse made it difficult to balance her work life and her social life, so she never got around to full grocery shopping trips. When she was out of something specific, she would stop somewhere and grab it. Her social life consisted of once- or twice-a-month visits with Rebecca at a local café. Even those were often cut short by an emergency at the hospital.

Milk in hand, Riza made her way to the counter to pay, but the newspaper caught her eye. _Amestris Hospital set to change owners_ was in large, bold letters at the top with a picture of the hospital’s glass front on the front page. In a smaller picture, Dr. Roy Mustang was pictured with a caption, “What will happen to the ER if Homunculus, Inc. gets their way?” The paper joined the milk on the counter as Riza tried to work through the news.

“Shame, huh?” the clerk brought Riza out of her thoughts. “The ER at Amestris saved my son twice and these new guys want to shut it down. The next hospital is 10 miles away!”

“It is,” Riza replied, collecting her bag and making her way out of the store. Hayate eagerly followed her home, but Riza was silent for the short trip. The emergency room was going to be shut down? What was Homunculus, Inc.? She had never even heard of the company before. 

Once home, she had no drive to doing any research on the looming changes at the hospital. She had to be up early for surgery tomorrow and needed to be focused.  Cholecystectomies are very routine, but any number of complications can arise during any surgery. 

\----------------------

“Patient is ready for surgery.” The voice came through the intercom just as Riza was tying Roy’s surgical gown.

“Bring her in,” he called out, and the door on the other side of the room opened. The various nurses placed the unconscious woman on the table and started exposing her midsection for the surgery. Riza made sure all of the tools were in place and stepped aside for Roy to have space.

“This woman should have come in 3 weeks ago for this surgery,” Roy muttered as he planned the incision, “I have no idea why she endured the nausea and pain that long.”

“Maybe she thought it was a virus,” Riza handed him the scalpel to make the initial incision. She was ready with gauze to prevent too much blood from getting in the way.

“Anyone would recognize this was more than a virus,” Roy’s exasperated voice was slightly muffled behind his mask.

“Not everyone has a medical degree and a fellowship in emergency surgery,” Riza deadpanned, replacing the quickly darkening gauze with fresh squares.

“You don’t need one,” Roy sighed and set the infected gallbladder aside. “Did you do anything exciting last night?”

Riza eyed him, knowing he was changing the subject on purpose. “I only took Black Hayate for a walk. But I did come across an interesting newspaper article. I’ll have to tell you about it later.”

Roy focused on suturing the bile duct correctly to its new home at the intestines. Riza knew he was turning the news over in his head, so he must have heard rumors already. It would make sense since his, and her, jobs would be in jeopardy if the ER department was shut down, not to mention the 100 or so other employees.

After the surgery, Riza made her way to the lockers to change into new scrubs, but Roy’s voice nearly made her jump.

“Did you happen to bring the newspaper from last night?” He had a smirk on his face, knowing his teasing got through to her.

“You do realize this is the women’s locker room?” Riza didn’t give him the satisfaction of eye contact. “And yes, I did.” She knew there was no point in trying to stop his behavior. He never came in when anyone was actually changing, but she didn’t know how he timed it so well.

Roy took the newspaper from her and frowned when he saw his picture. “Why am I on here? I mean, I’m glad to be influential but I have no say in this decision.” He sat on the bench and skimmed the article while Riza finished pinning up her hair. “This is going to give people the wrong idea. Are they trying to make them believe I am for shutting down the ER? I want to run this place, not drive it into the dirt!” he gripped the paper, hard, wrinkling it in his hands.

“Don’t you have post-op paperwork to be doing?” Riza asked, standing in front of him and taking the newspaper. “I can hear the nurses out there waiting to come in.”

Sighing, Roy stood up and made his way to the door. “I’ll make sure the ER doesn’t get shut down. And if it does… you won’t lose your job,” he assured her.

“You need to keep your job as well, Dr. Mustang,” Riza said, then followed him out and ignoring the hushed whispers of the nurses gossip.

“Mustang!” A tall blonde man waved at them from down the hall.

“Havoc,” Roy responded, stepping to the side of the hall so they could talk. “I didn’t think you were on until tonight.”

“I switched to the morning shift so I could go on a date tonight! You see, being a P.A. has its perks!” Jean Havoc beamed at them, and Riza cut him off before he could go on.

“I have patient rounds to make. Don’t forget to sign the discharge papers on your desk,” Riza reminded Roy before heading off to the patient hallway.

“She never lets up!” Riza caught her superior’s quip before she turned the corner, and couldn’t help but smile. No matter how much he complained, Dr. Roy Mustang was damn good at his job, and that was why she refused to work with anyone else. Roy never cut corners and always managed to get things done the right way.

At the nurse’s station, she caught R.N. Heymans Breda before he managed to turn into the break room. “Heymans,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Have you checked on our gallbladder patient this morning?”

“She’s doing well and woke up smoothly. I believe she’s sleeping now but when she woke I was going to make sure she knew how to order lunch,” he assured her.

“Thank you,” Riza said, relaxing a little. She usually liked to be present when patients woke from anesthesia, but once in awhile she got delayed and missed it.  “Is her family here?”

“They were earlier, but they may have gone out for lunch. Speaking of, have you had lunch yet?” Heymans was always concerned about everyone’s well-being, and this was a common question Riza received every day.

“I have not, but I’m not hungry,” she gave her usual reply and started looking through patient charts. “I’m going to do my rounds and give out meds first.” She took the rolling computer cart and started to one end of the hall. Visiting patients was one of her favorite duties as a nurse. Technically the C.N.As could do this, but she enjoyed it, and everyone knew C.N.As had 10,000 other things to do in a day.

Coughing grabbed her attention before she could make it to the first patient room. C.N.A. Kain Fuery was at another rolling computer cart with a red face his hand to his mouth. He was coughing and didn’t seem to be able to stop. 

“Kain? Are you okay?” Riza asked, but then she saw blood dripping through his hand. “Kain!” she called out, running over to him. She tried to straighten his hunched back, but he was shaking so hard from the coughing. His skin was clammy and starting to go pale. “Kain, please, try to breathe.” She didn’t know what to do other than wait until the coughing stopped. Heymans had since come over with a box of tissues and a clean up kit to get the blood contained.

After a few moments, Kain managed to sit down in a chair and catch his breath. Riza had prepared a thermometer and quickly stuck it in his mouth, then took his pulse. “Your heart rate is through the roof! Did you feel this sick this morning?” she asked him.

Kain shook his head, then the thermometer beeped. Riza glanced at it and her eyes widened. 104.1℉. “I don’t understand,” she murmured, then quickly checked her charts. “Get him in room 501. And make sure no one else goes in. We need to change clothes and wash up, now,” she instructed Heymans. Kain was sick with something very serious and she didn’t know what yet.

Roy came around the corner and stopped when he saw drops of blood on the floor. “What’s going on?” he asked, making sure to stand in the middle of the hallway so no one else came through while Riza cleaned up the floor.

“Kain started coughing up blood. Fever of 104.1. I had Heymans put him in a room and we need to isolate him. And Heymans and I need to shower,” Riza explained, but her mind was racing. What infection could this be? She needed to get cultures to send out to make sure it wasn’t contagious.

“You go shower. I’ll finish this,” Roy said, kneeling down and pulling gloves on from his pocket.

“Thank you, sir,” Riza said, standing up and checking around her. “He was on this rolling computer, so no one else should touch it until we disinfect it. And I would use bleach,” she mentioned, satisfied with a nod from Roy. With that, she turned and made her way back to the locker rooms, hoping there were some extra scrubs lying around. Her other set was from surgery and she couldn’t wear those.

Heymans was already in the shower when she got there, so she set to scrubbing her hands with antimicrobial soap for as long as possible. Kain falling so sick so quickly was scary. She knew the young man always watched his health and never came into work if he was sick. He was smarter than that. This means he was either incubating for a long time and the pathogen finally overwhelmed his system, or he acquired it here. That was even scarier, because no one in ER was sick with a pulmonary infection.  No one had come in with these symptoms recently.

“All yours,” Heymans was toweling off his hair and snapped Riza out of her thoughts.  “There are more scrubs in the shower room. I set out some in your size.”

“Thank you,” she smiled at him and slipped by, not wanting to contact his disinfected body.

Heading back out to the floor in her new scrubs, Riza found Roy scrubbing his hands vigorously in the nurses’ bathroom sink. “He’s sleeping,” Roy told her, glancing to the side to see her, “but I can hear him coughing pretty frequently. Everyone should have face shields and masks if they want to see him.”

“Good idea. Once he wakes up I’m going in to get some cultures. We need to find out what this is. He wasn’t sick this morning.” Riza leaned against the doorjamb, gazing at the floor to think. “And we should send an alert text out to watch for anyone with a cough. Who knows if he was coughing before the blood started.”

“I’ll get on that,” Roy assured her, turning off the water. “And watch yourself as well. I can’t have anyone else on my team catching this either.”

“The same goes for you,” Riza reminded him, then stood straight. “I’ll go do my rounds and then check on Kain.” She left him drying his hands, knowing he was worried about Kain.

Out in the hall, she nearly bumped into Dr. Maes Hughes, head surgeon of the oncology department. “Hello Dr. Hughes,” she greeted, smiling at him.

“Riza! Anything interesting happening in the ER today?” Hughes made a show of saluting her before filling his coffee mug at the nurse’s station.

“No, just a routine cholecystectomy,” Riza was about to go on but the alarm sounded throughout the halls.

“CODE BLUE.”

“I have to go!” she said, and then ran to the room the other nurses were also rushing to. They turned into the gallbladder patient’s room.

“No, no, no, no!” Riza turned into the room and a nurse was already performing chest compressions on the patient. The woman’s heart monitor was a flat line and her oxygen levels were dropping. “Who has the crash cart!”

“Here,” Roy’s voice accompanied the cart as he had everyone removed from the patient. He attempted to revive her three times, but the heart monitor never picked up. “Time of death?”

“14:56,” Riza said quietly. The nurses stood stunned around the bed, not daring to ask the obvious question. This patient had been recovering normally? Why the sudden cardiac arrest?

“Notify her next of kin. Riza, escort her downstairs with me,” Roy walked out of the room to call the morgue and she followed.  “It doesn’t make sense! Everything was normal. Is today a full moon?”

“No, doctor,” Riza said, just as stunned.

“First Kain and now this. So much paperwork.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Riza made sure her first task was to check on Kain’s progress and check over the lab results. It hadn’t been hard to get a culture specimen from him yesterday since he was constantly coughing. Putting on gloves, a disposable lab coat, and a face mask, she made her way to his room at the end of the hall.

When she walked in, he was very pale and his gown was drenched in sweat. Riza grabbed a new one and sat on the edge of his bed, taking his pulse. “How are you feeling today?” she asked.

Kain didn’t bother opening his eyes. “Worse. It feels like I can’t fill my lungs.” He sat up to cough again, and Riza handed him another tissue to cover. She could see the blood and mucus seeping through, and knew the clinical results were correct.

“You have tuberculosis. Very aggressive tuberculosis,” she said once he laid back again. “Have you been in contact with anyone who was coughing?” she knew he was very good at his job, but she had to ask. They needed to find the source of this TB before it spread too far.

Kain shook his head. “No... I haven’t been... going out... much recently.” He was whispering now, too tired to be any louder. “But I… was with Vato the other night… please check him…”

“Thank you,” she smiled, then quietly left so he could rest. He was on a strong broad-spectrum antibiotic now, but she had to wait for more lab results before she could switch him to a more specific one. Removing her protection, she made her way to the anaesthesiology department to look for Vato Falman.

“Vato!” she called out, seeing him by the coffee maker.

“Riza! Would you like a cup of coffee?” the tall anaesthesiologist asked. His hair was starting to grey, but he looked as healthy as when Riza saw him last. Even with the sweet smell of anaesthesia rolling off of him, it was a relief to see he seemed well.

“Have you heard about Kain?” she asked, taking the cup he offered. It seemed that she would need it today.

“No, I haven’t heard from him since the other night. What’s up?”

“He came in yesterday coughing up blood so we admitted him. He has a very aggressive strain of TB.” Riza saw as his eyes widened and he nearly dropped his coffee. “Have you been coughing?”

“No, I haven’t,” he said, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. “But I might put in a sample just in case. Or give myself a TB test.”

“I can do that for you, but you should put in a culture anyway just in case. Kain wasn’t coughing either until he suddenly coughed up blood,” she agreed, then nodded to him in thanks. “Thanks for the coffee. I have to get back to my floor. Call me if anything changes.” Walking back to the elevators, she knew she didn’t have to say anything about not spreading rumors. Vato was on Dr. Mustang’s surgery team, and anyone on that team knew spreading news like this was detrimental to the ER department.

Back on her own floor, she passed Roy in the hall. “Kain spent time with Vato the night before he started coughing,” she reported. “Vato isn’t feeling any symptoms now, but he’ll come down for a TB check and possibly give us a culture sample. Other than that there’s been no other outside contact that we know of.”

“Good,” Roy said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. “The higher ups know about Kain but they don’t seem too concerned since we handled it so quickly.” He gazed down at the floor, deep in thought. “I’d still like to know where Kain got it. Not from food, surely.”

“No, TB has never been transmitted by food. You can only get it by inhalation.” Riza confirmed.

“Did he get it here?” Roy’s voice went quiet, though no one was close enough to hear.

“He hasn’t gone anywhere except home and work the past few days, so it’s a possibility. Are there any cases in the hospital right now? Even in a different department?”

“I don’t think so. I checked the records last night. And my request to have an emergency text sent to the staff was denied.”

“Denied?” Riza’s eyes widened in confusion. “Why on earth-”

“They don’t want a mass panic, even though educated nurses are the least likely to panic.” Sighing, Roy stood straight again and Riza followed him down the hall. “It seems like a half-assed answer to me.”

Riza took a moment to think while Roy grabbed some charts from his box at the nurse’s station. The nurses almost always received alerts when there was an infectious disease found in the staff. Alerts keep everyone vigilant and aware of their surroundings. “Thankfully we caught Kain before he made his rounds,” she mentioned quietly.

“Yes. Though I’m still puzzled about how he acquired TB in the first place. And TB this aggressive isn’t very common,” Roy said as he flipped through the charts. Let’s have dinner tonight. I have barbeque pork in the crockpot at home.”

Riza eyed him for a moment, then sighed and gazed down. “Sure,” she agreed, though she wasn’t sure why. She usually rejected his dinner ideas. “But I’m bringing Black Hayate. I don’t like leaving him alone all evening when I’ve been gone all day.”

“Of course. I expected you to bring him. I have some plain chicken set aside from the other night,” Roy smiled at her, raising his eyebrows teasingly.

“Good to know you invite me just so you can play with the dog,” she teased right back, walking by him with her own charts. “Maybe I should just set up playdates for you two on the weekends.”

Roy tried to stifle a laugh as a family walked by. “Oh sure, your dog can have dates but you can’t?”

“And you know I won’t answer that question!” Riza hid her smile as she ducked into a patient room, donning gloves. Roy made it a habit to ask her on a date every few weeks, and he was trying to get sneakier about it. Too bad she always caught on. But then again… she did agree to dinner tonight. She’ll just have to be clear that she didn’t date coworkers… or her superiors. He wasn’t her direct superior in any way, but she still worked with him and he had a higher rank than her.

Finishing her rounds an hour later, Riza decided to take an early lunch. Kain was asleep, so she didn’t want to check in and wake him up. Grabbing her lunch, she was about to head outside when familiar voices caught her attention.

“Riza! Headed to lunch?” Dr. Hughes caught up to her, his lunch bag swinging from his hand.

“Yes, would you like to join me?” she asked, but her grin fell when she heard Roy’s voice behind her.

“Wouldn’t mind if I do,” Roy smirked at them, also carrying a bag. They all made their way to a picnic bench outside.

“Roy! Shouldn’t you have a wife by now to pack nutritious lunches for you?” Maes teased, which earned a glare from Riza across the table.

“I can pack my own lunches, thank you,” Roy didn’t even bother looking up at him.

“My Gracia would smack you over the head if you told her that was a ‘lunch,’” Maes said and laughed at Roy’s lunchmeat sandwich and a bag of chips. “Especially since you want to direct this hospital someday!”

“She only packs for you because she knows if she doesn’t, you wouldn’t get around to eating at all,” Riza reminded him.

“All that matters is that I love my Gracia!” Maes exclaimed, pulling out his wallet to show dozens of pictures of Gracia and his daughter, Elicia.

“Hughes, we’ve seen those pictures a thousand times, please get some new ones,” Roy focused intently on his sandwich.

“When you finally marry, you’ll understand!” Maes chided him, but put away his wallet so he could finish eating as well.

The sun was out and warmed Riza’s back as she consolidated her trash. “Please excuse me, I need to finish some paperwork inside,” she said, standing to head back in.

“Don’t work yourself too hard,” Maes grinned at her. “I’ll have to tell Roy here to not put so much of _his_ paperwork on you!”

“Trust me, she would never let me do that,” Roy muttered, leaning back a little. “And she gets on me enough for me to know I don’t have to remind her about it.”

“Goodbye,” Riza nodded to them and walked off, letting the men discuss just how much paperwork was too much in their opinions. Once inside, she noticed Heymans coming out of Kain’s room. “How is he?”

Heymans sighed and shook his head. “Not good. His fever won’t come down and he’s coughing up more blood. Are we sure this is just TB?”

“TB is the only organism that came back from the culture,” Riza said, but Heymans had a good point. This could be something they’ve never seen before, no matter how unlikely.

Heymans waved to someone behind Riza, and Vato’s muffled voice preceded him.

“Heymans! Riza!” he greeted, and Riza now saw the muffling was due to a surgical mask. “You have the culture materials ready for me?”

“You’re not coughing, are you?” Riza asked, deeply concerned as she walked around the barrier to get to her desk.

“No, but I figured better safe than sorry until the cultures come back. I’d rather not cough on someone if it comes on suddenly.” Vato took the items from her and headed to an empty room.

“I just remembered,” Heymans mentioned to Riza, “doesn’t a TB culture take at least a week to grow?”

“Usually, yes, but this grew within 12 hours, so they ran PCR.” Riza pulled up Kain’s chart and flipped through. “The only organism that matched was TB, but it wasn’t 100%.” She handed the chart over so Heymans could look.

“So strange,” he murmured, then handed it back. “I’m going to take my lunch. Page me if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Riza said, then caught Vato’s tall form out of the corner of her eye.

“One sputum culture, not that there was much sputum,” he said, handing over a sterile bag with the swabs.

“That’s a good thing. I’ll get this to the lab for PCR. They’re not even going to wait for anything to grow.” Riza put the bag in her pocket, planning to get this in as soon as possible. “The results should be back this afternoon.

Vato nodded. “Then I’m headed back upstairs. I’ll keep the mask on until I hear from you.”

“Thanks, Vato,” Riza smiled at him and parted ways. She took the service elevator to the basement where all of the laboratories were. She made quick work of filling out the paperwork and dropping off the samples.

When she returned to the ER floor, she could already smell the blood and vomit. Running to where she heard coughing, she saw Roy was donning gloves and a facemask.

“Don’t come over here!” he yelled to her, and helped the coughing dark haired man stand.

Riza went pale when she saw who was sick. Dr. Maes Hughes was sweaty, pale, and had blood dripping from his lips. He couldn’t stop coughing.


	3. Chapter 3

Later that night, Riza knocked on Roy’s apartment door with a spare hand. Her other hand held Black Hayate’s leash and a bag with a loaf of Italian bread. Roy opened the door with a forced smile. “Come on in,” he said, stepping aside to let the pair pass.

Riza unhooked Hayate’s leash once inside to let him access the water bowl Roy always put out when they visited. “I brought bread since last time you failed to get some.”

“I just forgot, okay?” Roy shrugged his shoulders and headed back into the kitchen. He took the lid off of the crockpot and stirred the pork around, letting the smell drift across the room. It made Riza’s stomach grumble in anticipation and Hayate’s nose to reach for the pot.

“Not for you,” Riza chided with a smile, reaching down to rub between his ears.

“But he knows I have something for him!” Roy smirked and tossed Black Hayate a piece of pork he had cooked separately without any sauce. “I never let him down!”

“Just don’t make that a habit.” She smiled, knowing that it was a way for Roy to stay Hayate’s friend.

“This’ll be ready in a minute or so. How about we warm up the bread?” Roy suggested, pulling out a cookie sheet to place in the oven.

“I’ll slice the bread,” Riza offered, easily finding a cutting board and knife from his kitchen. It was just so easy being with Roy here in his apartment, just as it was natural for him to come visit on a weekend.

Soon enough they were at his small dining table eating open faced pork sandwiches. Black Hayate was content to lie under the table between them.

“I got a call from Havoc just before you arrived,” Roy said, but didn’t look up from his meal. “Kain hasn’t changed, but Maes is slowly getting worse.”

“Did you see any PCR results?” Riza asked, her heart fluttering at the thought of an outbreak of this pathogen.

“Yes, and it’s the same strain Kain has,” Roy confirmed.

“Are there any ideas of its origin?”

“The scientists aren’t sure, but they think it might have come from a laboratory setting.”

This made Riza drop her fork, scaring Black Hayate underneath them. “But that means-”

“It doesn’t mean anything yet, but it definitely has some scary implications,” Roy didn’t mean to be rude, but he needed all of the facts before any conclusions were made.

\----------------------

Roy was leaning on the wall outside Maes’s room when Riza arrived the next morning. “How’s he doing?” she asked quietly.

“Not good. We took cultures and it’s the same strain that Kain has. I mentioned getting the CDC involved but I was shut down pretty quickly. The director of the hospital doesn’t seem concerned over 2 cases.” Roy sighed and hung his head. “Maes has been asleep all day. We’ve been giving medication through his IV.”

“He hasn’t woken up? What about Kain?”

“Kain has woken up here and there and been able to talk, if barely. The coughing hasn’t been getting any better.”

Riza shook her head, also leaning against the wall. “This is insane. And no one from the community has come in with this. Is it a new nosocomial infection?”

“I don’t know yet. Our labs are studying it and so far no antibiotics are working very well.”

“What do we have Kain and Maes on?”

“Still broad spectrum antibiotics. I don’t want to expose the bacteria to anything new for it to gain resistance.”

Riza agreed. With a bacteria strain growing this aggressively, it could easily mutate and gain new resistance genes. “Have you heard anything else from the laboratory?”

“Not yet, but I do know they are going to sequence the whole genome from both Kain and Maes. I want to know where this bug came from.” Roy stood straight and Riza followed him to his office down the hall.

Roy locked the door once they were both inside. “I know you know this, but I don’t want anyone outside of our department to know about this pathogen. Anyone who already knows will be kept informed, but no one knew should be brought in without my permission.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll go visit with Kain now and see if he wants lunch,” she nodded to him and walked out of the office. At the nurse’s station, she made sure to don all of the protective gear necessary to be with Kain. Disposable lab coat, shoe covers, surgical mask, 2 layers of latex gloves, and eye goggles. She didn’t want any splash from his cough to get anywhere near her skin or clothes. Her hair was even tied back more tightly than usual.

Stepping into his room, the smell of his sweat pervaded through the intense bleach odor. It was good to know the nurses were keeping up with cleaning his room. She had ordered the room to be sterilized three times a day with bleach to try and prevent contamination from people walking in and out so much.

Riza made her way to the bed, where Kain was sitting up to watch TV. “Hey, Riza,” he whispered, giving her a weak smile. His nasal cannula was around his neck instead of against his nose.

“You should really keep that on,” she chided, watching as he put it back in place. “We have to make sure you’re getting enough oxygen since there’s so much mucous in your lungs.”

“I know, but it’s so uncomfortable!” Kain leaned his head back and took a couple deep breaths. Riza could tell he was holding back a coughing fit.

“I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but Dr. Maes Hughes from oncology contracted the bacteria as well,” Riza was never one to beat around the bush.

“How?” Kain asked, but that triggered a coughing episode. Hunched over, Kain attempted to control it and not let the cough spray into the room. Riza handed him some tissues to collect the blood that came up.

Once Kain quieted, Riza continued, “We’re not sure since he hadn’t been in contact with you or the ER for quite a few days. And he was fine at lunch. Just after lunch he started coughing and we put him in isolation. We’re testing Vato too but he hasn’t developed any symptoms.”

“Good,” Kain leaned back again and muted the TV. He was still catching his breath, and Riza could hear the rattling of the fluid in his airways.

Riza picked up the menu brochure on the table beside him. “Are you up to eat anything? I can order you some soup if you like,” she offered, opening the menu for him to look.

Kain shook his head. “No, my stomach is queasy from the antibiotics.” His eyes were closed again, and Riza took her cue to leave.

“Get some rest,” she murmured, then slipped out. She took off all of her gear and stuffed it into the nearest biohazard container and sanitized her hands for at least a minute. She saw Jean Havoc come around the corner and waved him over.

“I heard about Dr. Hughes,” he murmured, also sanitizing his hands. “I came to see how he and Kain were doing.”

“Kain is trying to keep his spirits up, but the coughing is really draining him. Maes has been asleep since last night. He wakes up just long enough to take his medicine and falls back asleep.” Riza motioned for Jean to follow her into the nurse’s break room, which was empty. “So far we haven’t found an antibiotic to fight this, but Maes has the same strain of TB as Kain.”

“Crazy.” Jean said, fiddling with the pocket of his lab coat. He always did that when he was itching for a cigarette. “Any idea where they got it from?”

“None,” Riza sighed and took her lunch from the refrigerator. “Want to join me?”

“Sorry, but I just had lunch. I have patients coming in soon too,” Jean grinned at her and headed for the door. “You and Roy be careful, alright?”

“We always are,” she assured him, then set her mind to lunch. A few other nurses came in, but she paid them no mind. Why was Dr. Hughes so much worse than Kain? Was it age? Kain was in his 20s and Dr. Hughes must be reaching 35 by now. Thirty-five wasn’t exactly a risky age to contract tuberculosis. There was just no seeing through it yet.

After lunch, she noticed a small group of men and women in suits making notes on clipboards. The leader seemed to be a man approaching his 60s with dark black hair, broad shoulders, and an eye patch. It took her a moment, but Riza finally remembered him from the hospital’s website. What was the president of the hospital doing in the ER?

She hung back a moment, pretending to work on a mobile computer station. The group didn’t seem to be inspecting much, but the lean man with dreadlocks spoke loud enough for her to hear.

“This place is a dump!” He tugged at the jacket of his suit, trying to make more room for his shoulders. “I think we’ve seen enough. Can’t we go back now?”

As Riza moved to the nurse’s station to grab supplies to restock the cart, she was able to get a good look at their badges. Homunculus, Inc. Seeing the snake logo on their jackets made Riza realize they were here to determine if the ER was worth keeping as a department. She slowed her movements, hoping to catch more.

“Now, now,” President Bradley attempted to calm them. “We are very proud of our Emergency Department. I don’t have the numbers with me, but their rates of treating and releasing patients is most extraordinary.” Why did it sound like he was only putting on airs? Riza wasn’t confident the President was completely against shutting down the department. The group moved on and out of Riza’s earshot.

As soon as she was out of sight, she walked briskly to Roy’s office, knocking twice. He called her in. “What’s up?” he asked, but his eyebrows knitted together at the shock on her face.

“Homunculus, Inc. is inspecting the department,” she said, trying to calm her racing heart. “President Bradley is leading them.”

“That _is_ news,” Roy leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. “The newspapers seemed to be getting their information from someone reliable. But the employees of the hospital have been told nothing. I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I. I couldn’t catch everything, but the reps from Homunculus don’t seem impressed with our facilities. President Bradley wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about defending us.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Roy steepled his fingers and tapped them against his mouth. “I have to fight to keep our funding every quarter. I’ve stopped attempting to get more than we already receive.”

“Do you think Bradley wants Homunculus to buy the hospital?” Riza asked tentatively. As much as she didn’t like the idea, it had to be asked.

“It’s possible, but we need more information. Let me know if you hear anything else.”

“Of course,” Riza said, nodding before she left. It was her turn to make patient rounds so maybe she could cross paths with the Homunculus party.

“Code Blue, Room 515!” Heyman’s shout had barely finished before Roy was out of his chair and racing with Riza to Maes’s room. Some of the responding team was already in place, strapping an oxygen mask to Maes’s face.

“What’s the status?” Roy asked, using his stethoscope to listen to Maes’s chest. His heart rate was faint but present, but his breathing had stopped.

“Dr. Hughes is unconscious and not breathing,” a nurse said, taking his pulse manually and checking it against the machine.

Riza grabbed a CPR balloon pump and replaced the oxygen mask. She started the artificial breathing for him, watching as his oxygen levels remained low. “It’s not working!”

“That’s because his lungs are full of fluid and mucous, he’s drowning,” Roy said, then started unstrapping Maes. “He needs to go into surgery, now!” Before the nurses could even start preparing, the heart rate monitor let out a monotone.

“Hughes, you are not going to die on me!” Roy shouted, climbing on top of Maes and starting chest compressions.

“I need a crash cart!” Riza shouted into the hallway, and saw Jean already on his way with one. She made way for him to enter and he started turning on the machine.

“Mustang, off, now!” Jean ordered, grabbing the defibrillator paddles. “Clear!” he shouted, and everyone’s hands went up to show they weren’t touching Maes. Jean must have shocked him at least 5 times, but Riza lost count. The heart rate monitor refused to interrupt its monotone. Finally, Jean backed off.

“Time of death.” Roy was looking at the floor, his face contorted with anger.

“14:02,” Heymans said quietly and the response team started to disperse to prepare for the morgue trip.

Riza was frozen, staring at Dr. Hughes’s still form. Why had he died so quickly? Why did his lungs fill? As Heymans walked by, she gently stopped him. “Get Kain into x ray as soon as you’ve decontaminated. I want to check his lungs,” she ordered quietly, and Heymans immediately obeyed.

Roy sat on the floor against the far wall, his forehead resting on his knees. Riza walked over and joined him. “You need to get to the showers,” she said quietly, knowing that getting him out of this room was top priority. “We can’t afford lose to you, too.”

“And I can’t afford to lose you,” Roy said quietly. He stood up and offered his hand to help Riza. She took it and they made their way to the decontamination showers.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days went by in a blur. Riza helped Roy with the paperwork required to document Maes’s death, and they still had an onslaught of emergency cases coming in every day. With the weather getting colder, there were more car accidents and ice-related injuries.  One woman had come in with a compound fracture in her right femur, and the surgery had been pretty lengthy to get the bone pinned in place and protect the femoral artery in the process.

One evening almost a week after Maes’s death, Riza had just arrived home after the memorial service. She kicked her black heels off and greeted Hayate at the door. “I wish I could have taken you,” she said, her eyes stinging from the silent tears she had shed all day. “Roy would have liked it too.”

She shed her suit jacket and unbuttoned her pencil skirt, letting both drop to the floor. She stripped her stockings off and traded them for yoga pants. She kept her dark grey shirt on, figuring it was comfortable enough to lounge in for the rest of the evening.  She still had work in the morning, but another surgeon and nurse were kind enough to cover emergencies during that time.

Riza was pouring herself a glass of wine when there was a knock at her door. Black Hayate stood up, but didn’t bark. Sighing, she knew who was at the door now. There were only two people Hayate didn’t bark for, and she knew Rebecca was out of town.

After she opened the door, Roy tried to give her a small smile. “I brought pizza,” he said, holding the box out to her. “I was wondering if we could hang out tonight?” He was still in his suit from the memorial service, which Hayate was sniffing curiously.

“Come on in,” she said, taking the pizza from him so he had his hands free to take off his shoes. Once his jacket and scarf were hung up at the door, he followed her in and started taking out plates. They quietly claimed a few slices of pizza before relaxing on the couch to watch TV. Neither were paying attention, but the pretense was calming.

“Another glass of wine?” Roy asked her, sitting up and collecting their empty dishes.

“Thank you,” Riza said, unwilling to get up because Black Hayate was sleeping on her feet.

She watched Roy move about her kitchen as if he lived there. She felt the same way in his apartment as well. When had that happened? It wasn’t often that they saw each other outside of work. She was adamant about keeping her personal and professional life separate. Somewhere down the line, the situation became blurred for Roy. He was slowly becoming a great friend, and she had no problem with that. He was always there for her, and she was always there for him.

“Sorry, I spilled a little,” Roy teased, handing her a wine glass that was much more full than was socially acceptable. “Saves me a trip back up.”

“Oh, I know you didn’t spill!” She rolled her eyes, but accepted the wine nonetheless. They spent the rest of their evening relaxing and decompressing after a stressful and emotional day. The bottle of wine was finished in the process, and it didn’t take long for Riza to fall asleep leaning against Roy.

\----------------------

Riza managed to avoid meeting Roy’s gaze at work the next morning. Waking up next to him seemed to have caused a permanent flush on her face. He had been so nonchalant, but she had never in her life woken up to another man on her couch. It made it even worse that she was on the couch _with him_.

Hearing voices coming down the hall, Riza quickly composed herself and logged into the mobile workstation to make her rounds.  Jean and Roy came around the corner and were talking quietly. They stopped by her, seemingly by coincidence. She pretended to keep working soon as she heard their topic of conversation.

“That Homunculus group came by my end of the clinic yesterday,” Jean leaned on the wall next to Riza and fiddled with his cell phone. “They were inspecting the patient rooms and the analysis equipment.”

“They were here the other day,” Roy said, also, fiddling with his phone. “President Bradley was with them, too.”

Riza’s phone buzzed. She didn’t look at it now, not wanting to look suspicious as patients’ families passed by.

“Yeah Bradley was with them,” Jean confirmed. “He didn’t sound too sad about giving up the ER. Your name came up too.”

“Good to know he’s being consistent, though I’m not sure why I would come up in conversation. I doubt they’re worried about leaving us jobless.” Roy stood straight and motioned to Riza. “I want to check on the surgery patient from this morning. Care to join me?”

Riza nodded and collected the patient’s chart. The young boy had come in early this morning with a compound fracture in his lower leg. Turns out he had taken his older brother’s dirt bike and thought he would try to ride it. “He woke up well just before lunch and he’s talking to his parents.”

“Good to know. That fracture will take a long time to heal. I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to take the pins out.” Roy said, and Riza’s phone buzzed again. This time she checked it, and the two messages were from Jean. _ER OR team under inquiry,_ and _You’d be the first to go._

Riza’s eyes widened. They were going to break up the operating room team? Would she be fired or reassigned? It didn’t matter either way, but this was a major step in Homunculus, Inc. getting their way.

Once in the patient’s room, Roy put on a smile for the boy and his family. “Good to see you sitting up,” he said, “How’s your pain?”

Riza took notes as the boy and his parents gave the update, but her mind was elsewhere.  If she would be the first to be reassigned, then Heymans would be next. Once depleted of nurses, Roy wouldn’t have a team, and no surgeries would be possible. It wouldn’t take long to shut down the OR, and get Roy reassigned as well. If Heymans was reassigned… who would take care of Kain? Even in the wake of Dr. Hughes’s death, Kain was fighting to stay alive.

“Just get some rest. Hopefully we can discharge you today or tomorrow as soon as the pain is under control,” Roy gave the boy a pat on his head then left the room. Riza took a moment to record some vitals before following him to his office.

“I assume you received Havoc’s message?” Roy asked as soon as the door was closed.

“Yes,” Riza said, taking out her phone to make sure she didn’t miss anything. “I guess I should be on the lookout for a reassignment email.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Roy said, leaning his forearm against the window and looking out at the courtyard below. “It seems they are getting their wish.”

“Can’t we do anything to stop it? This is our life,” Riza was somber, but her mind was working quickly to find a solution. With the bureaucracy of the hospital involved, it seemed hopeless for a nurse to fix the entire problem.

“I’m working on that,” Roy said, then turned around with a smile. “On another note, my family is having a Halloween party this weekend. I was hoping you could come if you were free.”

Riza’s eyes widened. Roy wanted her to come to a family function? “Oh, well, that would be fun,” she said with a small smile, though last night’s memories flashed through her mind. They were spending more and more time together these days, but Riza wasn’t as opposed as she assumed she would be. “Will it be a costume party? And what time?”

“Of course it’s a costume party!” Roy beamed at her, holding back a laugh. “My sisters are organizing it!” Calming himself, he ran his fingers through his hair to push it out of his eyes. “I’ll pick you up at 7 on Saturday. Maybe we can grab dinner before heading to Madame Christmas’s?”

Riza smiled genuinely and collected her things. “Sounds like a plan.” She made her way out of the office and let out a breath. Her heart galloped in her chest and her muscles felt weak. Out of all of the times her and Roy had spent together outside of work, why did this one seem like a real date?

Forcing herself to clear her thoughts, Riza set the records down to be filed and grabbed her lunch. Thinking she would find Heymans to eat with her, she set out to find him. As she headed towards Kain’s room, she saw the nurse walk out and start to strip off the protective wear.

“How’s he doing?” Riza asked, staying a distance away until he could wash his hands.

“Not good, but he’s not getting worse,” Heymans said and sighed, finally taking the double pairs of gloves off and immediately sanitizing his hands. She followed him to a sink where he scrubbed with antibacterial soap for a good minute. “He has age on his side, but this bug is nasty. It’s still not responding to any antibiotics in lab.”

“Hopefully his immune system is strong enough to keep fighting,” Riza furrowed her brows in thought. “Keep him on constant fluids. Is he eating at all?”

“Not much. His stomach is queasy from all of the mucous.”

“See if he can start eating broth. He needs as many calories as possible right now.” Riza leaned against the wall, gazing in the direction of Kain’s room.

“Sounds good. He just fell asleep so I’ll-” Heymans couldn’t finish as a coughing fit nearly took him to his knees.

Riza’s first instinct was to jump back, but she pulled on gloves and a mask from a nearby station. “Get Dr. Mustang!” she yelled at a passing C.N.A., who gladly removed herself from the area to get him. “Heymans? Heymans!” she said, but the nurse was coughing too much to answer. She guided him into Dr. Hughes’s former room and Roy soon joined them.

“Go get a lab coat on,” he told her, already in his own protection. “I’ll get him changed into a gown. Bring IV fluids and culture materials.”

Riza moved out of the room and quickly did as he said, now terrified. Heymans was one of the most meticulous nurses on the staff. How did he contract the disease? He was the one spending most time with Kain, but he was always taking precautions. That was one of the reasons Riza trusted him to take care of Kain and Dr. Hughes, along with being Kain’s good friend.

Back in Heymans’s room, she saw Roy checking his vitals. “Fever, chills, cough,” he was muttering to himself, then seemed to realize she was back. “Get him on IV. Don’t bother with the antibiotics. It’s obviously resistant,” he said, and Riza worked quickly.

“I’ve been thinking,” Roy continued. “I don’t think it’s airborne.” He didn’t see the confused look Riza gave him, too busy obtaining a sputum sample. “And if it is, it’s not very strong. It’s only strong once inside a host.” Bagging the sample, he placed it in the cooler in the hall.

“How would he have caught it?” Riza asked, comfortable talking about Heymans since he was now asleep. “He’s the one with most contact.”

“Yes, but Hughes had almost no contact,” Roy reminded her. “In fact, he never even saw the inside of Kain’s room.”

“Then how did Dr. Hughes catch it?” Riza was more asking herself than Roy, but his answer simply shocked her.

“It was intentional.”

Riza nearly dropped the bag of fluids as she was hanging it. “Intentional?” She checked to make sure the door was closed. “You think this was planted?”

“Not only planted, but targeted.” Roy leaned against the wall now, watching her finish. “From now on we’ll be the only ones to contact Kain and Heymans. Let everyone keep thinking it’s highly infectious.”

Riza’s heart fluttered with adrenaline. “Who would-” she started, but then realized the answer. “Do you think…?”

“I do. Homunculus, Inc. wants this hospital so badly that they’re willing to sabotage our department to get it.” Pushing himself off the wall, he motioned for her to leave the room. “Get to the showers, just in case, then we can take lunch.”

Riza had no objections to eating with him. With Heymans out and the realization that a company is willing to murder in order to gain property, she needed the time to decompress and just _think_.

Once at lunch, Roy made sure they were eating a ways away from eavesdroppers. “I was thinking,” Riza was quiet, but keeping her face calm. “Why would Homunculus want this hospital in particular?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Roy admitted, not even touching his lunch. “But I can see why they wouldn’t release an airborne pathogen into the very space they want to acquire.”

“If that’s true,” Riza said, unable to even think about eating at the moment. “How are they infecting their targets? And why those targets in particular? It’s a pretty big jump from Kain to Dr. Hughes.”

“Not only do their stations differ, but they are from completely different departments of the hospital.” Roy leaned back in his chair, his food also untouched.

Riza couldn’t help but wonder if they were targeting employees close to her and Roy, but there was no definitive proof. For now, all they could do was hope no one else was infected.


	5. Chapter 5

Riza sighed as she gazed at herself in the mirror. The costume Rebecca had picked for her seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she was regretting it. The military uniform was not fit like a traditional one. This one fit her curves almost perfectly, and the neckline was cut much lower than socially acceptable. She tugged on the gold braid that stood out against the blue fabric, trying to adjust the neckline to be comfortable.

In the end, she decided to modify the costume. She took the jacket off and pulled on a black short-sleeved turtleneck. She kept the pants and boots and wrapped the gun harness around her shoulders. Satisfied, she had just enough time to pin her hair up before Roy was knocking at her door. She opened it and waved him in, her mouth holding a couple bobby pins to clean up some stray strands of hair.

“What happened to the sexy military officer?” he teased, making a flourish of bowing before her. He spared no detail in his matching military costume and even had decorative sword at his waist.

“Unfortunately we got the wrong size so I modified it,” she said, putting the last of the pins in place.

“I was hoping you’d be in a miniskirt,” Roy waggled his eyebrows at her.

“I don’t know where you even thought up that idea,” Riza rolled her eyes and filled Hayate’s water bowl for the evening, not knowing when they would be back.

“I can always hope, though my sisters will still be excited to see you again!” Roy knelt down and scratched Hayate between his ears.

“You’re ridiculous,” Riza muttered, then grabbed her keys. “I guess I’m ready.”

“Shall we?” Roy opened the door for her as Black Hayate watched them from the couch. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring her back in one piece,” Roy told the dog, which made Riza sigh in annoyance. Whatever happened to their strict work relationship? Although, she had to admit this wasn’t unobjectionable.

They made their way to Madame Christmas’s Bar and Club, which is where Roy spent most of his childhood as a foster son.  Riza could hear the music coming from inside as soon as she opened her door. “Tell me again why we had to pair up our costumes?”

“Oh, my sisters are running a costume contest and it has to be done in pairs.” Roy locked the car and led her inside. “I figured there would be so many vampire pairs and witches that we should do something different.”

“At least I can be warm,” she said, hugging her jacket over her non-revealing costume.

“Trust me, you might be wishing for the cold after an hour or so.” Roy opened the front door for her and the dense humidity hit her like a brick wall. Riza had to stop herself from coughing.

“This is crazy!” she said, though she wasn’t sure she had expected anything else. Madame Christmas’s was always busy and popular around any holiday, and Halloween was one of her biggest parties.

“Crazy? This is home,” Roy grinned at her as they made their way to the bar. They quickly found a spot where Madame Christmas was helping the other bartenders fill the never ending drink orders.

“Roy-boy! So good to see you!” The large woman awkwardly hugged him from behind the bar. “And always nice to see you, dear,” she smiled at Riza.

“You, too, Chris,” Riza realized she had to shout to even have a chance at being heard.

“I love your costumes!” One of Roy’s sisters, Riza wasn’t sure which one, came up from behind and gave Roy a bone-crushing hug. Riza could see his eyes nearly rolling up into his head. 

“Th-Thanks, Isabelle,” Roy managed to answer even though it seems his ribs would crack if his sister didn’t let go soon.

“The Madame made the most wonderful food for today! Come try some!” Isabelle’s grip was like a vice on Riza’s wrist as she pulled the couple through the crowd toward the buffet table. “Her spare ribs are to _die_ for!”

Riza couldn’t help but chuckle when Roy nearly stuck his hand in the pudding when Isabelle finally released him. Straightening his jacket, she watched a blush creep up from his neck. “Thank you, Isabelle. Don’t you have some patrons to harass?”

“But harassing you is so much more fun!” she teased before easily making a path through the crowd to greet more guests.

“Well, since we’re over here,” Roy offering Riza an empty plate. “Shall we?”

Riza stomach rumbled, not that anyone could hear it. “Sure,” she said, taking the plate and piling on a little of each dish. She made sure to grab a rib or two as well, just in case Isabelle came back over to investigate. Also, the barbeque sauce smelled sweet enough for her to be tempted. “Does she always cook like this for events?”

“Not just for events. Food is one of Chris’s specialties. Family dinner was a requirement every evening growing up,” Roy said, not hesitating when piling on the pasta salad and mashed potatoes.

“You’re going to give yourself a heart attack,” Riza said with a laugh, plopping some fruit onto the last empty space of his plate.

“If I was going to have a heart attack, it would have been at 18. I think I’m set,” Roy frowned at the fruit but left it there. “Oh, a table just opened up.”

Riza followed him to the high table in the bar area, thankful she wouldn’t have to eat and hold her plate and her drink at the same time. “Chris does this every year?” she asked, not able to imagine hosting a party this big every year.

“Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Fourth of July. You name it, she probably has a party for it,” Roy popped a roasted pepper in his mouth. “I made a point not to come to every party some time ago.”

“I can see why,” Riza was already feeling suffocated by the crowd around them. “Though I’m sure it’s great for business.”

“Oh, it’s perfect. It brings the locals out and any visiting families. She tries to make the events like this as family-friendly as possible.” Roy was now munching on a spare rib, getting stray barbeque sauce on his cheek. “Of course, after 11 the families are gone anyway, so my sisters start losing clothing around then.”

“But this isn’t a strip club?” Riza posed it at a question, not sure what he meant by that.

“Oh, it’s not, though they tend to… entertain some of the wealthy around here. Namely politicians.”

“Well that is interesting,” Riza smiled and picked up her napkin. She reached across the table and wiped at Roy’s cheek. “You have barbeque sauce.”

Roy’s eyes widened and the tell tale flush crept up his neck. “Thanks,” he muttered, looking off into the crowd.

Realizing what she just did, Riza placed the napkin down and busied herself with draining her drink. What was she thinking? She could have just _told_ him there was some sauce there!

Suddenly, Roy nudged her foot under the table. He nodded to the entrance, where Riza saw Jean Havoc enter the bar. “Did you invite him?” she asked.

“No, but he knew we were coming.” Roy waved him over and cleared a spot for Jean to stand.

“Hey, Roy, Riza,” Jean greeted them with his suggestive smile.

“What, did another woman dump you so you thought you would come over?” Riza teased, moving her plate away when he tried to steal a rib.

“No, I just thought I would stop by since I was out anyway,” Jean pouted and looked to Roy for support.

“Don’t look at me,” Roy put his hands up in defense. “Go get your own food.”

Jean sauntered off, but was quickly picked up by one of Roy’s sisters for some dancing. “I think he’ll be occupied for a while,” Riza said as she smiled and turned her attention back to food.

“Yeah, he didn’t even come in costume,” Roy was picking at his pasta salad.

“Something on your mind?”

“More like _somethings_ ,” Roy pushed the plate away and looked out over the crowd. “I still can’t get my head around it. Why the hell would Homunculus, Inc. want our hospital?” He scratched his head, obviously irritated. “It wouldn’t bother me so much if our staff wasn’t getting sick.”

Riza sighed, hoping they could have ignored the hospital issue for just a few hours. “Is there a way we can prove the TB came from one of their labs?”

“They don’t have public labs, but their records show an unused building on the far side of their campus.” Roy blankly watched the dancing around them again. “We would have to sneak in and steal anything that looks like bacteria cultures.”            

“Are you even _considering_ this?” Riza was shocked, her food forgotten again.

“I don’t even know. They might have an antibiotic to fight this thing. Kain isn’t getting any better and now Heymans is sick too.” Roy waved over Jean again, who had just been accidentally tossed out of the crowd.

“You never told me your sisters were hot!” Jean was trying to catch his breath, leaning against their table.

“How would you like to pull out your stealth training again?” Roy asked so only the three of them could hear.

“Really?” Jean was intrigued. “And where would I be going?”

“To find an antibiotic for this tuberculosis,” Roy was still watching the crowd. “Let’s take this conversation to my apartment. I would hate for someone to get wind.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Riza said, taking their plates to put in the trash. Her mood was also finished with the crowded bar anyway.

It didn’t take long for Roy to drive Riza to his apartment with Jean following on his motorcycle. As soon as Roy had his door locked, they stayed in the living room.

“Where the hell are we going to find an antibiotic?” Jean asked, leaning forward in the recliner chair. “We don’t even know how it got in the hospital.”

“I have a theory,” Roy said from the kitchen as he poured water for everyone. He came back into the living room and distributed the glasses. “Homunculus has had their eye on this hospital for a while, apparently. Only recently has President Bradley been cooperating with them.”

“You think they’re purposely infecting the staff?” Jean leaned back again, obviously finding this hard to believe.

“Not just the staff, but only staff with connections to the ER.” Riza filled in. “You said yourself the ER would be the first to get cut.”

“I know I heard that, but this is insane…” Jean shook his head. “But I trust you, Roy. Tell me what you need.”

“I need you to investigate an unmarked, supposedly abandoned building at the headquarters of Homunculus.” Roy pulled up his laptop and showed them a map of the complex. “It’s in the southeast corner, and there’s no parking and no roads that approach it. I’m thinking they may have an underground parking underneath it, but I have no proof. Once you’re in, find anything you can that looks like they’ve been culturing bacteria and any antibiotics.”

“Got it. Shouldn’t be too hard. Even with the fence around, I can easily get in through their front door.” Jean said. “But I would need a good reason.”

“Homunculus specializes in analysis equipment and software, correct?” Riza asked. With a nod from Roy, she continued, “You could always go looking for a new piece of equipment. I know our old flow cytometer needs a major upgrade.”

“That would work. Since your staff is the main crew to use it, it would make sense for you to go looking.” Roy nodded, seeing it all come together. “Once you’ve looked at some machines, just make your way over to the southeast building. This could actually work.”

Riza couldn’t believe this was happening. If this worked, Kain and Heymans would get better. If it didn’t… she didn’t want to think about that scenario. “What happens if you get caught?” she asked Jean.

“I’ve been through worse. Don’t get yourselves involved if I do.” Jean shrugged, relaxing a little now that he had accepted the plan.

“The hell I will,” Roy shook his head. “I won’t let you go down for it alone.”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get there. This is going to work,” Jean was serious now, as they all were. Riza knew they would have answers at the end of this one way or another.


	6. Chapter 6

            The morning after Jean’s mission, about a week before Thanksgiving, Riza was relieved to see Jean striding through the halls in his lab coat. She couldn’t help but walk up to him and make sure things went well. “How was your date last night?”

            “Went perfectly, thank you!” Jean grinned widely at her and pulled out a cigarette box. “She doesn’t even care about my smoking!”

            “I’ve told you before that the next time you pull cigarettes out in the hospital I would confiscate them!” She grabbed the box out of his hand and had to hide her surprise. The box was much heavier than it should be. And something was rolling around inside. Multiple somethings.

            “Oh, Riza,” Jean made an act at grabbing them, but she quickly pocketed it. “Oh well. It’s not like I don’t have more, and that box was nearly empty.” Shrugging, he turned back around and waved. “Let’s all meet up for lunch!”

            They just might have to do that. Riza gripped the box in her pocket and headed to Roy’s office, where she knew there were no security cameras. Knocking once, Roy called her in.

            “Jean gave me a present,” she informed him, placing the cigarette box on his desk. Roy quickly emptied it into his palm. Two 25-milliliter and one 10-milliliter vials were in it. The larger bottles read _Streptomycilin_. The smaller vial was unlabeled, but it was clear there was a bacteria culture on agar in it.

            “I’ve never heard of this one,” Roy held up the _Streptomycilin_ , “But it sounds like they messed with streptomycin. I’ll get this to the lab myself and have it tested against Kain’s and Heymans’s cultures. This one,” he looked at the smaller vial. “Will need to be sequenced. Once we’re sure the _Streptomycilin_ is safe and can kill the cultures, we’ll give it to Kain and Heymans. We don’t have time for any trials.”

            “Understood. Should I tell them?” Riza eyed the bottles, barely believing this could end their tuberculosis scare.

            “Not yet. Once it kills the cultures, then we can give them the choice.” Roy said, pocketing the vials. “Good to know Jean was successful. And I saw the email go out this morning that we’re getting a new flow cytometer.” He gave her a sly smile before changing the subject. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

            “Actually, I was going to spend the evening with my grandfather,” Riza informed him, but he didn’t seem as put out as she expected him to.

            “And your grandfather is Dr. Grumman, a member of the Board of Directors of this hospital,” Roy continued, which made Riza’s eyes narrow.

            “I don’t want that information spreading too far.” Riza wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but she had a funny feeling Thanksgiving was going to be interesting this year.

            “I sometimes play chess with him,” Roy waved off her concerns about being connected to a powerful figure in the hospital. “And he invited me to Thanksgiving dinner this year, as long as you agreed.”

            Riza sighed, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. Leave it to Grumman to pull something like this. They had already done so much together recently, she didn’t see the harm of inviting Roy to dinner. At least the picture in her mind of the three of them sitting at her grandfather’s large dining room table was more appealing than having awkward empty space again. “It won’t be as wild as Halloween,” she warned, and she knew Roy took that as a “yes.”

            “Great! I’ll pick you up next Thursday at 5.” He was fiddling on his phone again, much to her annoyance.

            “We’re working that day, remember? Why don’t we just leave from here?”

            “Because I gave you the afternoon off.” Riza’s phone buzzed. “Most of the staff has off anyway and we won’t need you. I’ll get Kain and Heymans a dinner before I come pick you up.”

            Nodding, Riza started out of his office. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go check on them now.” On her way out, she checked her phone. The text from Roy was at the top of her notifications. _Thursday afternoon you’ll have the lab to yourself. Brush up on sterile technique! Our project should be ready for analysis then._

            Now it made sense. He would inoculate the cultures today and treat this evening or tomorrow. Thursday would be in the perfect window to see if the antibiotic killed this TB. And the PCR analysis would be back by then too.

            Deleting the text, she started to gear up to enter Kain’s and Heymans’s room. A few weeks ago they had made the decision to keep them together, especially since neither were getting worse. Poor Kain had been sick for a couple months now and was getting lonely in the hospital room by himself.

            “Good morning,” she greeted them, making sure her mask was tied in place.

            “Riza!” Kain perked up at her arrival, sitting up in bed. He was still feverish and pale, but looking much better than when he had been alone.

            “Hey, Riza,” Heymans was still tired, but he didn’t seem to be any worse than the day before. Riza quickly made notes in their charts before starting to record their vitals.

            “Have a good night last night?” she asked.

            “Only if a good night counts as coughing up a lung every hour,” Heymans groaned, waiting his turn for vitals. “Any news?”

            “Yes, but we’re still waiting on confirmation,” Riza said, knowing there was no harm in giving them a little hope. Keeping their spirits up just may be the boost they need to beat this infection.

            “Good! I’m sick of these four walls,” Kain leaned his head back as Riza took his blood pressure and pulse.

            “I know, and I wish you could walk around, but we can’t risk it,” Riza sighed. She moved on to Heymans, but had to wait for his coughing fit to subside. “Has your family been in yet?” she asked Heymans.

            He nodded and laid his head back. “Yeah they’ve been in a couple times. They live less than an hour away so they come by pretty often.” He was whispering now, so Riza moved the conversation back to Kain.

            “What about you, Kain? Has your family been in recently?” She finished with Heymans’s vitals and stood.

            “They come about once a week now since they live close, but my younger brother is afraid of germs,” Kain laughed lightly.

            “Well, if I see him I’ll be sure to show him where the hand sanitizing stations are,” Riza smiled and picked up a clipboard. “Are either of you up for breakfast?”

            “Actually, yes,” Kain said, “Maybe some oatmeal?”

            “That’s a good start,” Riza nodded, and looked over to Heymans. He was already asleep, so she just checked his fluids and made her way out to put in the order.

 

\----------------------

 

            Thanksgiving evening, Riza checked her clothes in the full length mirror in her bedroom. The sleek black dress Rebecca had let her borrow was much shorter than she usually agreed to, but it wasn’t uncomfortable either. She adjusted her sheer dark nylons and picked up her purse. Roy was supposed to be here any minute to take her to her own grandfather for Thanksgiving dinner.

            Sure enough, he knocked on the door just as she was putting her shoes on. “Come in,” she called out, since Black Hayate hadn’t barked. He never barked for Roy.

            “Ready?” Roy asked, closing the door behind him. He knelt down to pat Hayate on the head. “Should I get his leash?”

            “Yes, please,” she said, taking a moment to make sure she could balance in her heels. They weren’t practical shoes in her taste, but her grandfather had warned that this would be a black tie event. Looking up at Roy, she had to force herself not to stare. It was rare that she saw him in a suit, and he was the pure essence of the word _handsome_. She’s not sure when that impression started, but it was threatening to consume her thoughts. Taking a deep breath, she pulled on her jacket. “I hope you know where we’re going, since Grandfather failed to tell me.”

            “Oh, we’re only going to his place. That’s why he said to bring along Black Hayate.” The image of Roy standing with her dog was perfection. He belonged here in her home, with her family. Just like she seemed to belong to his family now. “But I don’t know why it had to be black tie.” He pulled at his collar a little, and she could tell he was missing his scrubs just as she was missing hers.

            “I guess we’ll find out,” Riza said, taking the leash from him and they made their way to the car.

            It didn’t take long to arrive at Lionel Grumman’s house. Riza always thought it was closer to a mansion, but she wasn’t about to chastise her only living family. Roy pulled into the driveway and pulled out a large dessert once they had parked.

            “You brought food?” Riza asked, helping Black Hayate out of the car.

            “Chris insisted I bring it,” Roy grunted, trying to carry the cheesecake evenly. “I believe she and your grandfather know each other.”

            “Small world,” Riza murmured, now wondering if this wasn’t going to be the same quiet Thanksgiving they always had together. Dr. Grumman had too much influence in the hospital for Roy to ignore.

            A butler opened the door for them and showed them to the dining room, where the smell of the cooking turkey pervaded the air and Grumman was rearranging the dishes. “I always tell them to keep the bread near me, but Mrs. Fitz must be against me eating carbs.” He looked up, then beamed at the couple. “Riza! Dr. Mustang! So good to see you!” He gave Riza a crushing hug and shook hands with Roy.

            “Please, Roy is fine,” Roy insisted, obviously surprised by the older man’s behavior.

            “I thought you two played chess together?” Riza asked as she unhooked Hayate’s leash and her grandfather had walked off to grab something from the kitchen.

            “We do. I knew he was… peculiar, but I just don’t see him as the hugging type.”

            “Oh, he only hugs me,” Riza said, shedding her coat. Grumman came back from the kitchen with a bottle of champagne.

            “Grandfather, don’t you want to wait until dinner?” Riza asked, shaking her head at him with a smile.

            “Nonsense. I have four more bottles back there and plenty of wine. We can start with a toast!” he said, making quick work of popping the cork and pouring full glasses for all of them. “To togetherness, and of course, all of our health!” They all took a sip and sat at the table.

            “At least the hors d'oeuvres are out. The turkey needs a bit still,” Grumman piled on some cheese and crackers and relaxed into his chair. “So, how’s your ascent in the hospital coming?” he asked Roy.

            “Do we have to talk about politics?” Riza asked, slipping a piece of cheese to Hayate at her feet. She had been hoping for a break from all of this madness at the hospital. Then again, Kain and Heymans never got a break.

            “It’s one of the reasons I invited Roy, here,” Grumman said, filling the champagne glasses. “There’s something fishy going on and I want to know what. Since your department’s being targeted, something tells me you know.”

            Roy took a moment before responding. “We’re being targeted in more ways than one. Two of our staff are infected with an antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and there has been one death.”

            “That is disturbing. How come I’m just hearing about this now?” Grumman swirled his glass, his brows furrowed together.

            “I don’t know. I reported it to the board of directors and President Bradley himself. I was told to handle it on my own.” Riza could practically see the gears grinding away in Roy’s head.

            “Well, it never reached my ears,” Grumman said and set his glass down. “This is a serious case that normally shuts down entire departments. Why didn’t they follow protocol?”

            Riza took a deep breath. “We think they are pushing against Roy. The one death was Dr. Maes Hughes of Oncology. His only connection to the ER was through Roy.”

            “They know my ambition is to get onto the board of directors. It seems they don’t want me there, and are trying to prove me incompetent.” Roy drained his glass again and switched to water.

            “That just might be the case, but we can’t prove it yet.” Grumman gazed at a far part of the room, focusing. “I never liked those Homunculus reps, especially once the President started cozying up to them.”

            “I’m not ready to apply to the directors yet, but could we stall the transfer and keep the ER open?” Roy asked.

            “They seem pretty determined to keep you off,” Riza mentioned.

            “Yes, it would seem.” Grumman said. “It supports my suspicions.”

            “Suspicions?” Roy asked.

            “I think they want everyone off the board that isn’t in line with Homunculus.” Grumman’s voice was grave, and it dawned on Riza that they were all in much more danger than she previously thought.”

            “Wasn’t Dr. Hughes in line to apply for the board?” she asked.

            “And I was backing him,” Grumman confirmed.

            “And they killed him off.” Roy’s voice went soft as he looked to his lap. His hands were shaking on the table. He shook his head and gave a false smile. “I’m seriously tempted to make them target me so I can tear them down.”

            “I would advise against that,” Grumman said, eyeing Roy now. “If anything, you want to fall off their radar. Make them forget you exist. At least then you’ll stay on at the hospital.”

            “And what if they keep killing my staff? I just sit by and let them suffer?” Roy’s eyes flicked over to Riza, and she met his gaze. “We have proof they engineered the tuberculosis and we have their stash of antibiotics. We’re only a few days from administering it to my nurses.”

            “I’ll be damned. I don’t even want to know how you managed to do that. You have to know that as soon as you do that, they’ll come down on you,” Grumman warned.

            “I know, but I can’t risk another staff member dying.” Roy leaned back in his chair. “I just need a plan for when they retaliate. I don’t know what they’ll do and I need to be prepared for anything.”

            “Easier said than done.” Grumman stood and went to a side table where there was whiskey in crystal bottles and tumblers. “I need more than champagne for this.”

            Roy and Riza gladly took the whiskey tumblers and Roy drained his. Riza only took a sip. “Looks like I’m driving home.”

            Grumman laughed at that and refilled Roy’s. “Then I don’t feel guilty about getting your boyfriend drunk!”

            Roy nearly spit out the whiskey and his face went cherry red. Riza could feel her own heat and she tried to refute her grandfather, but no words came out.

            “I’m only teasing!” Grumman wiped a stray tear from his cheek as he calmed down his laughter. “All this gloomy talk made me!”

            “You’re ridiculous,” Riza mumbled and nursed her drink.

            “Back to the gloomy talk,” Roy steered the conversation back to topic. “If you get any wind of their plans, can I trust you to keep me informed?”

            “I can do the best I can,” Grumman shrugged, “but no promises. They’ll be breathing down my neck too and keeping me out the loop. It’s already been happening.”

            “Don’t get yourself killed,” Roy let out a breath, and then the doors to the kitchen opened. The heat from the kitchen brushed across Riza’s face as Mrs. Fitz carried in a large turkey and a couple of her staff brought the sides.

            “Dinner is served! I hope you lot didn’t fill up on the drinks!” she said, moving the plates around to make room.

            “You’re more than welcome to join us!” Grumman beamed at his cook, which caused him to earn a whack from her towel.

            Riza felt her heart calm as they settled into dinner. Even though no real plan was set, they were at least all on the same page. Dinner progressed smoothly, and Riza found herself enjoying the banter among the three of them. It hit her suddenly as dessert was brought out that Roy was just as comfortable with her family as she was with his.

            “I should be getting him home,” Riza said after dessert, and more whiskey, had been cleaned up. She stood and grabbed Hayate’s leash.

            “Oh, Riza!” Roy complained, a faint blush across his face. “I’m not _that_ drunk.”

            “Oh, yes you are,” she countered, tossing him his jacket. “Thank you for having us, Grandfather.”

            Grumman stood up and hugged his granddaughter. “It’s always nice to see you, dear,” he said, patting her back a couple times. “Don’t be shy at the hospital! You never come visit me!”

            “That’s because I have a very demanding job,” she said, chuckling as she clipped Hayate’s leash on.

            “And her boss keeps her busy!” Roy proclaimed, managing to get his arms in the jacket.

            “Oh, I’m sure he does,” Grumman winked at Riza, which made her blush _again_. She was tired of this teasing.

            “Let’s go, Roy. You can sleep on my couch tonight.” _And I will sleep in my own bed!_ She told herself, trying to suppress the memory of waking up next to him.

            “Take care!” Grumman called out as Riza manipulated Roy into the car and drove them home.

            At her apartment, she was grateful to live on the first floor. Roy was unceremoniously dumped on her couch and he was immediately asleep. Riza pulled his shoes off and left the rest alone. He could deal with a wrinkled suit when he woke up.

            She closed her bedroom door once inside, but then left it open a crack. _Hayate might want to come in_ , she told herself, but she knew that wasn’t entirely true. It didn’t take long for her to get changed into her large t shirt before climbing into bed. She knew she should take her makeup off, but she was just too tired.

            Riza started awake, not remembering falling asleep. She realized she heard a noise, and saw Hayate staring at her window, growling. “Hayate? What’s wrong?” She asked, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She moved towards him but a large weight landed on her back and arms wrapped around her neck.

            A hand was clamped over her mouth, muffling her scream of surprise. She vaguely recognized Hayate’s bark. Self-defense instincts kicked in and she jabbed back with her elbow before bringing her heel up into the groin of her attacker. It barely fazed the figure as it pushed Riza onto the bed and pinned her there.

            “Ahhh!!” she screamed at him, bucking her hips up and head-butting him once he was close enough. The grunt that resounded told her attacker was possibly male. Dreadlocks flew about his head as he scrabbled to press a knife against her throat. He cried out again, and Riza realized Hayate must have bitten his leg.

            Riza held his arm away from her neck and the door of her bedroom burst open. Roy bear hugged the attacker from behind and pulled him off of Riza. The attacker had an arm free, though, and threw the knife at Riza. She ducked, but felt the sharp pain if it grazing her forehead. She heard a _thump_ and saw Roy on the floor, holding his abdomen. The attacker jumped out of the window, leaving Hayate growling again and standing guard at the window.

            “Riza!” Roy’s voice broke through the haze clouding her mind. Her eye stung as blood dripped into it from the cut on her forehead. Her hands were shaking and she sat on the bed as her knees gave out.

            Roy was standing before her and inspecting the cut. “It’s not deep, but you’ll need stitches.” When she didn’t answer, he cupped her face in his hands. “Riza! State your name and where you are.”

            His order reached her. “Riza Hawkeye. My apartment.”

            “Ok. What day is it?”

            “Thursday,” she said, but her gaze flicked to the clock. 4 am. “Actually, it’s Friday.”

            Roy sighed with relief and moved to her master bathroom. He grabbed her hand towel and pressed it against the cut on her head. “Keep pressure there. I’m taking you to our ER.”

            “No, my first aid kit has suture supplies,” she said, pressing the towel to her head. “I don’t want to go anywhere.”

            “Do you want me to call the police?” he asked.

            Riza shook her head. “I know who it was. He had dreadlocks. Green dreadlocks.”

            Roy’s eyes widened. “You saw the Homunculus rep?”

            Riza nodded, and then realized her hands were shaking again. “Roy, I’m going into shock.”

            Roy wrapped his arms around her for a moment. “I’m right here,” he said, Black Hayate is here.”

            His reassurances helped, but then his medical training kicked in. He laid her back and propped her feet up. “Where’s your medical kit?” He asked, and she pointed to her bathroom. It was no time at all before he was sitting beside her and pulling on gloves. “You think of everything! There’s a topical numbing agent in here.”

            Riza let him clean and suture the wound, barely flinching when the needle pierced her skin again and again. It was helping her clear her mind. “We’re going to have to do something about this.” She said quietly.

            “Something will happen soon enough. The lab results came back. I’ll be giving Kain and Heymans the antibiotic tomorrow.” She heard him take off the gloves and tried to sit up.

            “Oh, no,” he said, gently pushing her back down. “You sleep. I’ll get you up in time for work, unless you want the day off. I can handle things tomorrow.”

            She shook her head, reaching for the bottle of water she always kept by her bed. Roy uncapped it for her. “I’m going in tomorrow. I want to confirm who I saw tonight.”

            There was no arguing with her and she knew Roy knew it. He nodded and stood up. “Can I raid your closet for blankets?”

            “Of course,” Riza said, pulling her covers up over her bare legs. Bare legs.

            “Goodnight, Riza,” Roy said, before walking out. Hayate curled up in her doorway, but kept his head up to watch the now closed window.

            _Her boss had just seen her in nothing but a t-shirt!_


	7. Chapter 7

            As promised, Roy woke Riza up the next morning for work, but not until 9 am. This resulted in a groggy, annoyed Riza and an amused Roy drinking coffee.

            “I take much longer than 5 minutes to get ready!” she said, pulling her hair up with her clip. “What about our morning surgeries?” Rushing around helped keep her mind off the fact that Roy had seen her without pants last night.

            “I had the backup team handle them,” Roy was reading her newspaper, but she noticed the glances he threw her way every few minutes.

            “You don’t have to worry about me,” she assured him, gathering her things and making herself a thermos of coffee. “I’ll be fine today. I didn’t lose that much blood. And I didn’t hit my head.”

            “I’m still worried they’ll target you again.” Roy stood and finished his own coffee.

            “They probably don’t want me getting another good look at the attacker. I didn’t get a chance to see his face but his hair was unique. Also, I’d be more of a target here alone than at work,” Riza said, filling Hayate’s water and food bowls. “Ready?”

            “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Roy tugged on his shoes and gave Hayate a pat. “Watch the apartment while she’s gone,” he ordered, which earned a nuzzle from the dog.

            Roy drove her to them to work and immediately told the backup team that they could leave. They’d been there all night and a few extra hours this morning. Riza locked her things up in the locker room and went to check on Heymans and Kain.

            “How are you feeling this morning?” she asked, sitting on Kain’s bed since he seemed more energized.

            “Actually pretty ok,” Kain said. Color was coming back to his face and he wasn’t as sweaty. Riza took his temperature to confirm his fever was lowering. HIs coughing fits were less intense as well.

            “I’m glad to hear it,” she said, and then moved over to Heymans.

            “I’ve seen better days,” Heymans joked, but fell into a coughing fit.

            “You’ve been sick for less time,” Riza reminded him, marking his vitals in the chart. “We’re working on something to help you. I’m hoping to hear back on it today.

            “I have good news!” Roy came in and closed the door. “We have been testing an antibiotic and it’s effective against your strain. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that we won’t have the luxury of taking the time to test its safety in mice. Do you want the antibiotic now or test it for safety first?”

            Kain’s eyes lit up, making Riza smile. “I’m done with being sick! Just give me a low dose,” he said.

            “He’s on the mend anyway, a low dose should be fine,” Riza confirmed. “Heymans?”

            “Just give me the damn cure.” Heymans didn’t even open his eyes to answer. “I’m done with this too.”

            Roy nodded and waved for Riza to follow him. “We’ll get IV bags ready and should be back up soon. Don’t mention this if anyone checks in on you,” he said, then the pair made their way to the laboratory.

            “We should keep a couple bags on stock just in case anyone else gets sick,” Riza suggested in the elevator.

            “Good idea-” Roy cut off as his brows furrowed together. “What’s that?” he asked, looking up into one corner. He moved closer and his eyes widened. “That’s a lens! A fucking camera lens!” Roy’s fists clenched together.

            “You think…?” Riza didn’t want to say “Homunculus,” but Roy knew.

            “Yes, I do.” As soon as the doors opened, Roy led her out and into the lab where their stock of antibiotic was. “We need to move this, now. Get Kain’s and Heyman’s samples ready and _get the hell out of here!_ ”

            Riza had never heard such urgency in his voice, at least not outside of the surgery room. She pulled on gloves and mixed the solution. She had the IV bags ready in minutes while Roy took the stock of antibiotic and secured it in a box with ice. The made their way to the stairs and made their way back to the emergency room floor.

            Riza left him at his office and entered Kain’s and Heymans’s room without putting on safety equipment.

            Kain’s voice reached her as she locked the door. “Are you insane? You could catch this!”

            “We’re 90% sure this isn’t airborne,” she said, and then started hooking up the IVs. “And I really hope this works. We have to get this in you before the higher ups come looking for it.”

            “Where did you get this?” Heymans asked once he was hooked up.

            “You don’t want to know. We can explain everything once you’re better.” Riza moved to Kain and had him hooked up in no time. “I’m not sure how many doses you’ll need, but we’ll start with this. I hope it’s enough.”

            “Me too,” Kain said, relaxing back and turning on the TV.

            Once Riza had double-checked the IVs, she made her way to Roy’s office, where he was locking the antibiotic in a safe.

            “Hopefully they didn’t see us bring it up here,” he said, but Riza waved at him to be quiet. She could hear President Bradley in the hall.

            “I am still proud of our ER department, but your visions for this hall are extraordinary.” Bradley’s voice was deep enough to echo throughout the floor. Riza made her way to close Roy’s door, but by then the Homunculus representatives were outside the door.

            Riza’s heart skipped a beat as she spotted green dreadlocks. The person eyed her, and then grimaced. “Go do your job!” they said, then moved on.

            Riza nearly slammed the door and turned back to Roy, who was white as a sheet. “That was my attacker!” she whispered, her knees shaking. “And I think he recognized me!”

            “Shit!” Roy pulled out his cell phone and started texting. “I’m getting us out of here. They must have seen us in the elevator.”

            “What about Kain and Heymans? We can’t just leave them!” Riza said, and Roy nodded.

“I’m not. I’m going to have them transferred to another hospital.

            A large explosion shook everything in Roy’s office and nearly sent them to the floor. The fire alarm sounded and nurses raced to get patients out of their rooms.

            “Where was the explosion?” Riza asked as Roy led her out of his office and towards Kain’s and Heymans’s room.

            “I don’t know, but it was below us,” he said. Smoke spilled from the ventilation system and gathered at the ceilings.

            The pair burst into the room and started unhooking monitors, but left the antibiotics alone. “Kain, can you walk?” Roy asked.

            “Yes!” Though he was coughing from the smoke, Kain grabbed his IV pole and moved towards the hall.

            Roy and Riza moved Heymans’s bed together, racing him towards the stairs with the other patients. They were only on the third floor, so it only took a few minutes for them to escape the building.

            As soon as Kain was sitting and Heymans was stable, Roy tapped Riza on the shoulder. “I’m going back into my office! Stay here!”

            “Like hell I will!” Riza said, racing after him back into the hospital. They took a side door to not impede the mass flow of people trying to evacuate.

            Inside was dark and smoky, making Riza’s eyes water and her lungs burn. The smell of smoke was overpowering and nearly made her gag. She felt Roy’s hand grab hers and pull her towards the stairs. His clammy hand in hers woke her up enough to run with him.

            Once in his office, she realized the fire had spread to this floor. “Hurry!” she wheezed, her throat raw. “The fire is on this floor!”

            “I know!” Roy grunted, trying to see the combination lock through the haze. “But I can’t leave this behind!” He got the door open and the vial out of the ice. “Let’s get out of here.”

            They made their way out of the office and into a wall of smoke. It was nearly impossible to tell which direction was the exit. They both dropped to their hands and knees to try and stay below the majority of the smoke.

            Riza was ahead of Roy when she heard him shout. She turned around to find him kicking at someone who had ahold of his ankle. The man was large, but he seemed so short at the same time. His meaty hands had a grip on Roy’s ankle and did not seem intent on letting go.

            “Don’t let them leave!” she heard a woman shout. Riza quickly crawled to Roy and tried to pull him from the stranger’s grasp.

            “Oh, no you don’t,” the woman’s voice was calm despite the fire’s oppressive heat growing ever closer. Riza felt a sharp sting on the back of her leg and she whipped around. A tall woman with dark wavy hair was holding a bloody knife. Only adrenaline prevented Riza from feeling the deep gash in her calf muscle. She kicked back, landing her shoe square in the woman’s solar plexus.

            With her out of the way, Riza turned so she could kick at the man holding Roy. She heard Roy’s wheezing from the smoke and she could barely see because her eyes were watering heavily. She kicked blindly and something cracked under her shoe. The man howled and let Roy go, and Riza pulled Roy along by his hand. There was no point in crawling now that the smoke was so thick. She saw a window ahead of them and stopped at it.

“We’ll never make it down the stairs! Jump!” She then pushed a coughing, barely conscious Roy out of the window to land in some bushes. As soon as he had rolled away, she went to jump.

            “How dare you!” The woman pulled Riza back by her hair away from the window.

            “Let go!” Riza screamed, though her voice was so raspy it barely came out as a whisper. She did all that she could to wiggle out of the woman’s grasp, but that knife came so close to her face too many times.

            “That surgeon of yours will never have this hospital!” The woman’s knife managed to make contact with Riza’s side, causing her to cry out. Riza finally got the woman facing the wall and slammed her weight back, hearing the woman hit. Her hair was released and Riza launched herself out of the window, landing hard in the bushes. She heard a _crack_ and pain raced up from her wrist before she blacked out.

 

_1 month later_

 

            “Riza? Have you seen the sugar?”

            “You left it out last night and I didn’t move it.”

            “Oh, found it!”

            Riza shook her head with a smile at Roy still figuring his way around her kitchen. Three weeks ago, his apartment’s elevator had broken and he still couldn’t manage the stairs on his crutches. The only sensible solution was for him to move in with Riza, who lived in a first floor apartment. They had even managed to put a Christmas tree up with the help of their friends.

            The fall out of the hospital window had taken its toll on the both of them. Roy had been left with a moderate concussion and a broken tibia. Riza had managed to survive with only a broken wrist. Everyone else had evacuated the hospital safely and the fire was able to be put out. Unfortunately, the laboratories in the basement and the entire south wing had been destroyed in the fire, which meant the ER was also gone.

            Almost everyone on their team had already found new jobs in surrounding towns. Kain and Heymans now work in an urgent care clinic with Jean. Falman had found a position at a trauma hospital. Riza and Roy needed to wait until their injuries healed before searching for a new hospital.

            “You know, I was thinking,” Roy hobbled over to her on the couch, juggling two coffees and one crutch. He plopped down and handed her a mug. “What if we started our own urgent care clinic? We could have limited hours at first and then expand as we get more staff.”

            “If you want to deal with the bureaucracies of setting one up, I won’t stop you,” Riza said, sipping her coffee. “But don’t expect me to do all of the paperwork.”

            “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Roy said with a smile. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Your Grandfather is on his way, just so you know. He wants to introduce us to some potential staff.”

            “And you didn’t think to tell me this before?” Riza asked, slightly exasperated. Why was he discussing these things with Grumman before her? Probably to schmooze for funding.

            “I blame the painkillers,” Roy grinned at her and turned her chin in for another kiss.

            Before Riza could turn into the kiss, loud knocking on her front door stopped her. Sighing, she stood and stopped Roy from getting up. “Don’t bother. He would have broken his way in before you could get balanced on your crutches.”

            “I’m not that slow!” Roy sat back with a frown, nursing his coffee.

            “Hello, Grandfather,” Riza smiled, giving him a quick hug.

            “Hello, Riza,” He moved the box in his hand to hug her with the other. “I want to introduce you to your new staff! This is Edward and Alphonse Elric.”

            Riza was surprised to see that they were only teenagers. “Welcome, I apologize that we have to meet in my apartment, but Roy and I aren’t going anywhere else anytime soon.”

            “Nice to meet you, Ms. Hawkeye!” Alphonse shook her hand as Grumman closed the door. “I just earned my anesthesiologist certificate. I look forward to working with you!”

            “Wait, you hired this shrimp?” Roy was up now and hobbling over to them. He eyed Ed; barely believing this 15-year-old boy had finished medical school and was in his surgery residency.

            “I’m not that short!” Ed yelled at him, and Riza noticed Grumman quickly slip out from between them.

            “I’ll just put this in the fridge!” He winked at Riza and made his way into the kitchen.

            “Just how did you get into medical school, anyway?” Roy’s eyebrow was twitching now.

            “That’s none of your business!” Ed took a step closer to Roy, and Riza know decided to intervene before someone got hit with a crutch.

            “Look, let’s go sit and talk. No one’s hired yet, but if this is going to work, we need all the help we can get.” She eyed Roy, and he backed down.

            “I need to get off this damn leg. I should have done the stupid surgery myself.” Roy hobbled back over to the couch and ungracefully sat.

            “I heard you two were nearly trapped in the burning hospital,” Alphonse’s eyes were wide with wonder as he asked, “How did you get those injuries?”

            Roy grinned. “Well, we had an antibiotic that we couldn’t leave behind, so we went in and-”

            “I pushed him out the window when he was close to passing out from smoke inhalation,” Riza finished for him, her eyes closed as she took a sip of coffee. “I followed right after. The smoke was so thick we couldn’t see the exits and I was pretty sure the fire was in the staircase. The window was our best option.”

            “But did you get the antibiotic? What was so special about it?” Edward asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

            “Yeah, we got it. And it’s safely locked up in a friend’s clinic. It treats a very aggressive tuberculosis.” Roy answered, miffed about having his story cut off. He and Riza had agreed not to tell anyone about getting attacked by the Homunculus group inside the building. All of their evidence of the weaponized tuberculosis had been destroyed when the basement laboratories had been set on fire. The police were still investigating it as an arson case.

            Riza tried to steer the conversation back to opening an emergency clinic. With the hospital ER gone, Homunculus had gotten their wish and bought the damaged building. It’s being remodeled into an elite rehabilitation center. Now there was a need for a clinic because the closest emergency hospital was over 15 miles away. That much distance could be the difference between life and death. By the end of their conversation, both Edward and Alphonse were hired and Roy had some properties to look into. Of course, Grumman would own the whole thing since he was financing the project, but Riza knew Roy hoped to buy it off him one day.

            Grumman had pulled out his cheesecake since his visit doubled as a Christmas visit as well. Everyone had a plate and munched happily while discussing possible locations and equipment. It baffled Riza that just a month ago, two of her friends were battling a life-threatening infection and she had been attacked in her own home. Now, she was dating and practically living with her former colleague. Her grandfather standing snapped her out of her thoughts.

            “We’d best get going. I’d promised their landlord I’d have them back for dinner,” Grumman grinned. “And I can’t wait to tell her they’ve already had dessert!”

            “We’re not children,” Edward mumbled pathetically, and Roy ruffled his hair.

            “You’ll have a lot to learn once you start working for me. Keep yourself in shape, you hear?” Riza patted Alphonse on the back, letting him take the leftover cheesecake.

            “Don’t know how you’ll teach me when you seem pretty useless right now,” Edward gave the quip back with full confidence, and Riza had to grab Roy’s arm before someone got injured.

            They waved goodbye from the door, at least Riza did, and she closed it gently. “You know, you’re going to have to get along with them.”

            “Oh, I’ll get along just fine with Alphonse. He seems like an upstanding young man. Edward needs to learn his place.” Roy plopped down on the couch and crossed his arms. “Damn punk.”

            “Now, Roy,” Riza rolled her eyes and gently sat on his lap, making sure to avoid jostling his cast. “You’re all fired up. Everything will work out,” she made sure she had eye contact before leaning in and gently kissing him on the lips. Roy’s arms snaked around her and he pulled her close.

            “Bad idea. Now I can keep you here,” Roy smirked against her lips, letting one hand run through her hair.

            “Who said I wanted to leave?” She teased, and then kissed him again, knowing that everything would work.

**Author's Note:**

> The wonderful work of minmeiz can be found here: http://minmeiz.tumblr.com/post/149339520747/fmabb16art
> 
> The wonderful work of atriem can be found here: http://atriem.tumblr.com/post/149415490298/this-year-i-joined-the-fma-big-bang-2016
> 
> Thank you everyone! Now on with the show!


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